<p><br /> Veterans have gathered on Dunkirk beach to mark the 70th anniversary of the famous troop evacuation.<br /> </p><p><br /> Scores of former Second World War soldiers attended a ceremony at the Allied Memorial on Dunkirk seafront, with 50 of the original "little ships" that took part in the operation offshore.<br /> </p><p><br /> Several days of commemorations are taking place in the northern French port to celebrate the famous mission that rescued more than 300,000 Allied troops stranded on the beaches in 1940.<br /> </p><p><br /> On Friday, tears were shed at a ceremony remembering the SS massacre of more than 80 British soldiers at Esquelbecq, just outside Dunkirk.<br /> </p><p><br /> They had been protecting the town's outer defences and after being taken prisoner by soldiers from SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, were herded into a barn and killed by grenade and machine gun.<br /> </p><p><br /> British, French, Canadian and Belgian soldiers were rescued from Dunkirk beaches between May 26 and June 4, 1940.<br /> </p>
